Shuttle



J. NORTHROP.

SHUTTLE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14. 1917.

Patented Mar. 15, 19210 JONAS NORTHROP. F HOPEDALE. MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 HOPEDALE MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF MILFORD, CHUSETT S.

MASSACHUSETTS, A CQRPOBATION OF MASSA- srrU'r'rLE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Mar, 15, 1921.

Application filed September 1;; 1917. Serial No. 191,406.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JONAS Nonrnnor, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hopedale, in the county of .lVorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shuttles; and I do hereby to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invent-ion relates to a method of makin an improved thread block for seli-threading shuttles, and to the product of such method.

The object of the invention is to produce a method by which a self-threading shuttle thread block having a thread passage and a helical thread guide and guard located within or at the entrance of the thread passage, may be made with the helical thread guide and guard integral with the thread block. To the accomplishment of this object the invention consists in the method hereinafter described and claimed, and in the improved thread block produced by this method.

In the accompanying drawings illustrat hug the improved thread block produced by the method of the invention, Figure 1 is a crspective view of the delivery end of a self-threading shuttle showing the application of the improved thread block thereto; Fig. 2. is a plan or the parts shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are, respectively, an end elevation and a side elevation of the im-,

proved thread block; and Figs. 5 and 6 are, respectively, a top plan and of the thread block as it comes from the mold in which it was cast, showing the flagelliform projection extending therefrom before the same is manipulated into the helical thread guide and ard located within or at the entrance of t e thread passage.

The improved thread block produced by the method of the present invention as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive of the drawings, comprises a thread block generally ndicated at B, which in its general outline and features of construction may be of any usual'or preferred form. This thread block is adapted to be inserted in a recess formed in the delivery end of the shuttle, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A bolt 7 passed transversely through the lower part of the thread block secures it in the shuttle. The thread declare the following.

a side elevation the central opening block B is provided with the usual longitu dinal thread passage 9, through which the thread passes from the bobbin to the delivery'eye 10 of the shuttle. The usual 00- operating beak 11 and shield 12 located at the .forward end of the thread block prevent the dethreading of the shuttle. A. felt pad 14 is located at the outer bottom'end of the thread passage 9 for the purpose of imposing a drag or tension on the thread so as to prevent the formation of loops or bights therein. Located within or at the entrance or inner end of the thread passage ,9-is a helically formed tendril-like. thread guide and guard 15 integral at its upper end with the side wall 16 of the thread block; The thread guide and guard gradually tapers from its base, that is, its point of attachment to the wall16, to its tip.

The mode of operation of the shuttle 'providcd with the improved thread block described above is as follows: On the first pick of the shuttle away from the weft replenishing mechanism, the filling pays out from the bobbin and is drawn down against the sloping side 18 (see Fig. 3) of the helical thread guide and guard 15, being directed thereby into the narrow thread entrance 19 formed between the side 18 of the thread guide and guard and the adjacent side 20 of the thread block. Before the shuttle reaches the opposite end of the lay, the thread usually draws down under the shield 12 and the coiipc ing beak 11, so as to be delivered through t slot 21 formed in the upper side of the i livery end of the shuttle. During this pick of theshuttle from the weft-replenishing cud ofthe lay, the thread may or may not draw down under the rounded portion 23 of the helical thread guide and guard 15, and thence into the central opening 24: thereof. .In either case the thread will be delivcred under the beak 11 and through the slot 21. On thefirst return pick of the shuttle to the weft replenishing end of the lay, the thread will be drawn down past the usual horn 25 and will be delivered from the shuttle eye 10. If the thread has not passed into guide and guard 15 on the first pick of the shuttle away from the weft replenishing mechanism, it will usually be guided therein on the first return pick. After the filling thread has been guided into the'central opening 24 of the helical thread guide and guard,

24 of the helical thread it is practically impossible for it to pass over the point 27 thereof and thence up through the narrow entrance slot :19. .If bights or loops areformed in the thread and are thrown forwardly over the delivery end of the shuttle, they will draw down over the helically formed thread guide and guard 1.5, pass over the point 27, and straighten out Within the central opening 24 therein, and thus dethreading will be prevented. It will he recognized from the foregoing description that the helical thread guide and guard 15 acts first as a guide to direct the thread into the central opening 24 thereof, and that thereafter it acts as a guard to prevent the dethreading of the thread block.

The method b which the improved thread block describec above is produced is set forth follows: Before the helical thread guide and guard 15 is shaped and positioned as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, it exists as a substantially straight flagelliforin projection extending outwardly from the upper part of the inner end of the wall 16 of the thread block, as shown at in Figs. 5 and 6. This projection 30 in its unfinished state is somewhat larger in diameter than the thread guide and guard. This is for the purpose of eliminating porosity in the finished helical thread guide and guard when the flagellitorm projection 30 is filed or scraped until it is of the requisite diameter. When the flagelliform projection is of the requisite diameter, it is then manipulated until it forms the helical thread guide and guard located within or at the entrance of the thread passage, as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. The method of the present invention thus consists in-casting a thread block provided with a thread passage and a coi'iperating shield and bealn'with a tlagelliform projectionextending from the top inner end of one of the side walls of the thread block; reducing the fiagellilorni projection to'the requisite diameter; and thereafter manipulating it into a helix or tench-i1 located with in or at the entrance of the thread passage. It will be understood that the second step in the method, namely the reduction of the flagelliform projection from its rough to its finished condition, may be dispensed with, in case the projection is cast of a diameter, taper and smoothness requisite for the proper functioning of the helical guide and guard.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is The method of making self-threading shuttle thread blocks provided with a thread passage, a thread eye, means for directing the thread through the thread passage and the eye, and a helically formed thread guide and guard at the entrance of the thread pas sage, which consists in casting the thread block with said-thread guide and guard as a fiagelliform projection extending from the i "thread block, and afterward manipulating the flagelliform projection so that it constitutes a helically formed thread guide and guard as herein set forth.

JONAS non'rnnor.v 

